An implant that includes a drug may be inserted into a target part of a living body (i.e., a human or a non-human animal) that is suffering from a disease (hereinafter abbreviated as a diseased part), and the diseased part may be treated by releasing the drug from the implant in a sustained manner. For example, when the target part is part of the eye, an implant that includes a timed-release drug may be used for the treatment of various inflammatory eye diseases and proliferative eye diseases such as exudative age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), cystoid macular edema, diabetic macular edema, uveitis, retinitis, choroiditis, proliferative vieoretinopathy, and proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
A technique disclosed in JP-T-2007-535540 has been known as a technique for treating the eye using such an implant, for example. According to the technique disclosed in JP-T-2007-535540, an implant is produced by incorporating a steroid drug such as dexamethasone in a biodegradable polymer, and placed in part (e.g., vitreous body) of the patient's eye to treat the eye disease.
JP-T-2007-535540 also discloses a technique that introduces a photoactive agent into the vein or the like after placing the implant so that the photoactive agent is localized in the blood vessels present in the diseased part of the eye, and applies laser light to the diseased part to activate the photoactive agent to directly treat the diseased part. Specifically, this technique utilizes treatment using the implant and treatment using laser light in combination.